SLP180 Eric (iamTheCharacter) – Bitcoin as Protest and Macro Solution

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Eric eloquently spoke about bitcoin as a macro solution on a live news broadcast from a protest near LA City Hall. I invited Eric on to discuss his views and his macro solution. We talk about his interest in Bitcoin, his RaspiBlitz node, his excitement for the lightning network, and bitcoin as a social movement. 

Eric links: 

Sponsors:

Stephan Livera links:

Podcast Transcript:

Stephan Livera:

Okay. So with that said, these are the sponsors for today’s episode, and I’m just going to bring in my guest. Welcome Eric.

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

What’s up, what’s up to all the people out there, shout out to Stephan for having me on.

Stephan Livera:

Awesome. Eric. So look, tell us a little bit about yourself. I mean, you were the man on the TV screen shilling Bitcoin. Tell us a little bit about how you, how you ended up here?

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

Yeah, it was actually funny cause I didn’t think I kind of thought they were live, but then I was like, they’re not live. And I was like, there’s no way they’re using that. Cause I saw the dude cut away. And when you see it actually happening, I get just enough out before he’s like, Oh, we gotta go. We gotta pin the camera off of her. I was at the you know, the black lives matter protest in Los Angeles, we were at city hall. I had gone to a protest earlier that week where we shut down the 101 highway my boy hit me up that day and he said, do you want to head out? So I was like, yeah, let’s hit city hall. And I saw the woman out there and she asked if I wanted to say something and I thought, okay, I have a platform.

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

I have this opportunity and this is the best thing I can say. You know? And I prefaced that with macro solution because it’s not a final solution. There’s many minor details that need to be involved, but in my mind, and even my protest sign, my protest sign is boycott the system buy Bitcoin. And so that’s what was the best. That was the best thing I could say. That I was like, I got a platform. I get this message out there. We got to get a change going. And this is the nuclear option of boycotting, as you know, and in America, boycotting and in the black community is a very powerful tool that we’ve used several times as a form of protest. And so I want to introduce this form of protest to everyone at large and especially the black community.

Stephan Livera:

That’s fantastic. I think the first reaction I had when I was watching that clip was well, like how quickly you able, you were able to collect, pull it all together into a nice cohesive statement that really just kind of in, it was like two or three sentences. And then you just like, because look for people who aren’t familiar, if you’re presenting, there’s always, that pressure is on you. So how did you deal with that?

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

I’m not going to lie. I was nervous. But it’s, it’s that speaking truth to power it’s understanding what needs to be done and how it not and almost how it needs to be done. But I knew I had to, the thing with boycotting and America is we’re actually really we know how to fight the system and we know that fighting the system is in America and anywhere. And in our current times right now fighting, you know crony capitalism or vulture capitalism, is how do you, you hit them in their pocket and, you know, yeah. I, I, you know, we are under a system of oppression and you know, by race, by finance and by so many other subtle means, and you know, this is the one way, this is, this is one of this is, this is our hammer in our toolkit to our multi-tool in our toolkit. But this is a huge tool in our toolkit. And I knew that this was the tool that I had to present with the little time I had.

Stephan Livera:

That’s incredible, man. So look, let’s, let’s back up a little bit. I want to hear your story in terms of how you got into Bitcoin. What was it about Bitcoin that appealed to you?

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

So here’s a funny story. So I actually got into it. My boy, he has a pretty decent presence on Twitter. His name is Vin Armani. And he got me into Bitcoin. He’s one of my friends who’s like always on the cutting edge of technology. Like, you know, he was showing me video on phones before it came out. And, you know, even with music, he was like, this music channel is going to be big. And then he just mentioned that with Bitcoin, like I believe in 2015, he was like, dude, this is going to be huge. You get into this Bitcoin. And you know, I shrugged it off. I didn’t really pay attention to it. And it came back around, I think in 2017, for some reason, I just, I don’t know, it just came across my mind and I downloaded the Coinbase app then, and I just saw the price at $700.

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

And this was in January, 2017, I believe. And then I looked at the applicant and it was a thousand dollars and I was like, Holy shit, like this thing’s moving. So, you know, I dipped my toe into the water. I put in 50 bucks, I kept reading and then you just go into the black hole and then you just start finding any amount of money you can. But at the same time, I didn’t want to be a hypocrite. You know, if I was going to support this thing, you know, I had to understand the technology as best as I could. And when I had the means, you know, I had to get a node up and running, you know, Nas has this statement, why shoot the breeze about it when you can be about it. And so to the extent of my capabilities, I’m about it as much as I possibly can be rip to Vin though, he went to the dark side. He’s a Bcasher now.

Stephan Livera:

Yeah. He got me into it. Yeah. That’s I mean, I was going to say because as I understand, I mean, a lot of people in the libertarian world, like him from the libertarian perspective, but not necessarily about from the Bcash point of view, obviously I’m not a yeah. But I’m curious at what was it about your learning that made you decide to not go the Bcash pathway?

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

I think my unique skillset is that I have like, I’m really good at finding information. Like my dad was someone who watched the news all the time when I was a kid, I was like, why is my dad was watching the news? But that quality is inherent in me where I’m like a newshound and I’m really good at like hunting down and sniffing out the smartest people in the room and the best information. And I just kept coming across information. And the smartest people in the room just were saying, Bitcoin, Bitcoin, Bitcoin, and the smartest devs in the room were working on Bitcoin. And it didn’t take too much for me to figure out that, you know, that you probably want to hang out with the smartest people in the room on this one. So, you know, that’s where I’m at. I feel like I’m with the smartest people in the room.

Stephan Livera:

Man, that’s really clever. And I think it’s, it’s quite a difficult space as well when you’re first learning about it because there appear to be many different smart people in the room. Right. And it’s like, which one do you follow? Who do you, who do you who do you go with if you will. So tell us a little bit about your journey then in terms of learning how to set up your own Bitcoin node. I know you are a Raspiblitz man, so I’m sure rootzoll and openoms and the boys will be very happy. Tell us about that.

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

Yeah. It was just, you know, being a crypto Twitter, you come across these guys and then you hear like lightens coming out, then lightning actually comes out and you want to get involved and you come across these dudes and they’re like, look for 250 bucks, you can be up and zipping on this whole project. And, you know, I found a old one terabyte hard drive. And my node is so bare bones. Like I don’t even have the LCD screen and I’m, you know I’m a penny pincher, so I don’t even have the LCD screen. I just literally have the board. I use my computer to SSH in, you know, so I just, I found an old one terabyte hard drive. I said, okay, I can kick down 60 bucks on a blitz. You know, and God, it was just, it really, if you’re just a tiny bit technically savvy, it’s really not that hard.

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

Like the hardest part of me sending up was my router, which didn’t really make that much sense to me. But the software was criminally simple to set up and you know, openoms is on, he’s on the telegram all day, just helping people, which I don’t really know how he does it. I would pull my hair out, but he’s just so selfless in his ability to help the community, you know, answering the same questions. Like he helped me several times. I was like, I can’t get this to work. And we’re like texting back and forth. Did you try this? You know, and it’s just like, wow, like these dudes are doing such a great job and you know, one, I can support the community in the telegram and answering the questions I know. Two, I could hit them off with a donation and three I’m supporting the you know, like when I’m, so we’re at version 0.2 in Bitcoin core. There’s a script out for it already. Now, all you gotta do is put the script in, hit enter and you update it. So these guys keep you on the cutting edge of technology. It’s such a great community. And these guys are like, it’s just part of the whole community as a whole. That’s making me happy man. And I’m just really happy to just be a part of it.

Stephan Livera:

Yeah. That’s such a beautiful thing about the Bitcoin community as well. So we’re, so for listeners who aren’t familiar, Ross inaudible is a node project. And so essentially you can quickly set up your own Bitcoin node with a Raspberry Pi. And one of the cool things with the Raspiblitz is it actually has a LCD screen on the, on the normal standard build. Obviously you don’t have to do that as, as you didn’t. And the cool thing is that it can run some of this software for you or at least script it together in a nice, easy way. So tell us a little bit about what you use your Raspiblitz for?

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

I mainly just to right now to support the network you know, I think a lot, you know, I don’t have you know, to just to be like reckless, you know, I don’t want to put a bunch of money on there right now. So I, there was points a bit where I had like a bunch of channels, but to be honest, you know, with my current projects that work on, like I’m an artist as well. So I’m focusing on a documentary I’m working on at the moment. So I don’t really have the time to commit to being a routing node, which I will eventually build up to. So not a routing node, my node is basically to support the Bitcoin ledger at this point and making sure that the ledger stays intact at that, at this current point. But I eventually want to build myself up to being a routing.

Stephan Livera:

Yeah. That’s well, I mean, look, I think that’s the other thing as well that we’ve gotta be cognizant that not everyone’s going to go like full all the way. Like it takes time and for all of us, it’s a progression journey. I certainly, I’m not perfect myself. Right. I had to work my way up on a lot of different aspects. So let’s talk a little bit about Bitcoin as a social movement, right. So I think I see it as a social movement and I think you obviously see it that way too. Tell us a little bit about your views on that aspect of social change and driving that change.

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

Right. So we know that in the Genesis block, we really know what it’s all about. Like, you know, the chancellor is on the break of a second bailout and I feel like that’s satoshi saying enough’s enough. You know, and basically we have seen that the financial institutions we have now are biased towards the rich, you know the big corporations never have to worry about getting a bail out. It’s almost a given you’re going to get a bail out. You know, the citizenry, you know, barely if ever gets a bail out or they get a pittance of the bailout and as a form of social change you know, we have to become economically independent and this is our on ramp. So, you know my call to the community as a whole, including the black community was to say, Hey, like, let’s get on this on ramp.

Stephan Livera:

Let’s start studying it. I actually have a three point plan. There’s three points and Bitcoin is one of the first points of it, which is what I said, we’re going to opt out and we’re going to start buying Bitcoin. That doesn’t mean, you know, dumping your life savings into it, but it does mean first learning the technology and maybe dollar cost averaging in, you know, put in what you can, even if it’s $5, just become comfortable with it. And then the second point of that plan is volunteering. You know, like let’s get back in the community, let’s build these community bonds that we have. Let’s start meeting people. Let’s start figuring out who the leaders are, and maybe you’re one of the leaders yourself, but we got to start building these community bonds. We got to understand that we are each other, we have the same wants, needs, and goals.

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

You know, we’re a human family and what better way to express that then ends up volunteering and in your community. And, you know, one thing to note is that Bitcoin overall is a voluntary project, you know, so that just speaks to the power of volunteering. And so I’m a huge proponent of volunteering scope. First is learn about Bitcoin, you know, buy some Bitcoin, DCA in Dollar Cost Average and then my third point is, let’s not forget about the ballot box. That is, you know, those are, those are the macro tool sets. I believe that we can have in this revolution that is underway. We cannot, there is no normal to go back to, there’s nothing to go back to anymore. We gotta move forward. So ballot box volunteering Bitcoin. And I believe that, you know, like the trifecta of, you know, those are the macro ideas of the toolkit.

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

And then within that toolkit, let’s build these micro ideas.

Stephan Livera:

Right. And so you mentioned the ballot box, so what’s your intention around that? Like what sort of changes do you see that could be driven there?

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

It’s really hard to tell, you know, cause you know, at this point we’re trying to put the politician, that’s gonna, you know, beat us up the least at this point. But at the same time, you know, there are politicians who are out there to help us. I, you know, it’s weird because, can the system you can change, you know? But at the same time, it’s like, well, let’s not put Donald Trump at the head of it. You know, let’s at least give us people in. Then he’ll give us some breathing room to affect critical change. And as far as the ballot box, I’m really into local politics, you know, like join your neighborhood council, vote for your neighborhood council. I helped my home girl Zeba(?) with her campaign and she’s on our community council, you know, and it can be as easy as starting. They’re like, Oh, you don’t vote for the director of your community center, you know, but if you have an opportunity to vote, just vote, you know, don’t waste, it don’t waste that don’t waste that on that tool.

Stephan Livera:

I like the focus on localism myself. I believe it’s one of those things where you can potentially find support across the political spectrum, whether you’re a progressive or a conservative or libertarian you can make an argument there that moving things to a local level is just going to be better for whatever you are. What do you think?

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

Yeah, definitely. I mean, you know, find people who share your same values and I try to promote those people in places where they can put those values in place. I mean, because if you’re not, if you’re not someone else will, you know, so hopefully it’s your values and your shared values that you want promoted and those structures of power.

Stephan Livera:

Right. And I think the other way to think of it also is that if it’s somebody in your local community, if they live near you, then they feel more of a connection to you and you feel more of a connection to them. Whereas if you are so, I mean, I’m in Australia, but obviously the federal politicians you know, they’re are hundreds of kilometers away and in America it could be even, you know, it could be well that could be very far away and they’re impacting those decisions are impacting you and your community. It’s much better to kind of give more power to the local areas as opposed to the federal so that you have a bit more of a say in what’s going on in your community.

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

Definitely. And you know, that’s that those are the politicians. You want the politician that lives in your neighborhood to be representing you, not the politician who doesn’t do their own laundry or their own dishes, you know?

Stephan Livera:

Yep. And speaking of police and the police system as well, there may be parallels there also this idea of having police who are from that area and different structures around how policing could be improved. Do you have any thoughts on that? I presume you do.

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

Yeah, definitely. So I volunteered at my local recreation center. I was a basketball coach. Now, mind you, I don’t know. I don’t know any technicalities about basketball. So I chose the youngest kids to coach and my goal was to make sure they had a great time to make sure they felt supported and to make sure they felt like what it meant to be a team and to actually kids at that age five and six, you just want them to pass the ball. But we had, they had a program in which a local police officer would visit the community center and the kids would become acquainted with the police officer in the centre and get to him on a first name basis. And I think that’s the connection we need. Like as long as a police officer feels that he’s not related to you.

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

You’re not his cousin, you’re not his brother, you’re not his brothers or sister’s friend, then you know, that it makes that disconnect that much more powerful for them to maybe inflict harm upon you. Now we have a huge policing problem in this country. Our our policing is actually the foundations of it is built on slavery and slave patrols and catching slaves and supporting the status quo. You know, so in the North, it was for the protection of property and goods and in the South, it was for the you know, the monitoring of slaves and catching runaway slaves some you know, policing the slave population. So that’s why, you know, Bitcoin as a whole is a huge part of the tool because we essentially have to up end the status quo. And I think that falls into maybe not even, maybe it falls into an economic dimension of this, but yeah, our policing system in America is it’s really, it’s really bad. So, you know, but there are programs, there are people, you know, putting a foot forward in that, but yeah, we, the micro ideas for that art, as I mentioned, I volunteer, I was in a position to meet the police officer and to have communication with that police officer as part of the program to integrate the police in the community so we can do it. And there are steps being taken forward in my community for that.

Stephan Livera:

Great. And so you mentioned volunteering, and so you mentioned being a basketball coach for a youth team. Are there any other forms of volunteering that you see that you would like to promote?

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

Just a ton. I want to get back into it. I got really busy. I that was enormously, a fulfilling experience for me. You know, you go to the grocery store and you see your kids run up to you and they’re still calling you coach. It was a very fulfilling experience for me, but I’d love to volunteer in the Bitcoin community with you know, maybe contributing. I mean that’s a huge far off dream but I’d love to be able to contribute code, you know volunteering my time. Into a Bitcoin, maybe lightning project and I, and the city of Los Angeles. Now there’s a webpage where you can do myriad of volunteering opportunities, like just planting trees you know, being a mentor, you know, taking kids, camping or hiking, you know, any of those things would be extremely fulfilling to me.

Stephan Livera:

Yeah. That’s a really good way to think about it. And I think it just brings it down to what’s going on in your community and what can you do? And I think a lot of Bitcoin people see that, and I think it’s a fair point. You make as well around. I’m wanting to contribute to these Bitcoin enlightening projects. And I think the really interesting thing as well is you don’t necessarily need to be some super computer genius person. Bitcoin is for all walks of life. And, you know, I’m not a developer, you’re not a developer, but we’re still doing Bitcoin stuff and kind of promoting Bitcoin. So tell us a little bit about that idea Bitcoin being for all walks of life?

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

Yeah. I mean, that’s, you know, that’s one of the tenets, you know, it’s open, it’s an open platform where all you need is an internet connection. And, you know, a part of it is people who may be not technically inclined can spread that message, you know, and that was part of me, my reason of spreading that message when I was being interviewed, you know, it’s for all walks of life and, you know, it’s not hard to get involved, so it just takes the initiative and people like me and you and others to just keep talking about it. So people get interested in it. I mean, you know, my family wants me to shut up about it and I’ve gotten my little sister into it. I’ve gotten my older sister into it and she unfortunately lost her 12 letter passphrase. So fingers crossed she finds it, but you know, it’s also things like that. When you talk to people about it, you realize that like, for those who know a little bit less than you, that it can be difficult for them. So it was also, you know, just figuring out ways you can help the community and get the community on board. But yeah it’s open it’s for everyone. And all you need is a internet connection and a, you know, a smartphone and you can start participating and then figuring it out.

Stephan Livera:

Right. That reminds me of my friend, Matt Odell’s Uncle Jim. Right. You have to, you have to be the uncle Jim for your family.

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

Yeah. Yeah. I’m definitely that dude. Like, they just want me to like, shut up.

Stephan Livera:

So Eric, let’s hear a bit about you. You mentioned you’re an artist. Tell us a bit about what you’re doing in that world.

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

Yeah. So I’m working on a documentary right now is called the hip hop philosophy. It’s about a DJ in Los Angeles. His name is AC the PD. He has a show on the internet called Monday night fresh. You can go to his webpage hip hop philosophy that show streams live California time. It usually starts around 6:00 PM. His thing is that he never plays the same song twice. But he plays music from us as a specific era. So it’s kind of interesting how he continually finds new music and you know, his angle for the whole thing too, is that he’s a community resource and he’s volunteering his time to provide the hip hop community with new music because he doesn’t like the watered down music that he hears on the radio or that you hear. I know in America you hear the same song all day.

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

But it’s something you might find interesting is my group time machine back in our day we had the album of the week on triple J. Our albums will be a roll. This might even be before your time, because we got interviewed by a Maya Jupiter. That’s when Maya Jupiter was on the radio. So this was like 2002 in Florida, Australia in 2006, we toured Australia. I think we did a club revolt in Melbourne. It was like this 24 hour club back in the day that went on in Melbourne. So we did that. We did Sydney. It was dope, man. We’ve gone to Australia there. Yeah, man, I’ll show you a freaking road for our album, man. So yeah, we had album will be on triple J album, slow your roll. So, you know, I still do music with my friend Blake. Now I’m working on a documentary and you can find anything, you know, my Twitter handle. I’m the character.

Stephan Livera:

That’s awesome, man. So what’s your role in, in the in the music? Like, do you,

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

One of the writers for the documentary I shot and I shot it and I’m editing it the documentary now. It’s funny. Like the way I get into projects, it’s like, I just think it’s not going to be, you know, all like, it was supposed to be a 12 minute film on an iPhone. I just ought to speak cute little project. And it like spiraled into like, you know, four years of shooting. And now I’m into like the first year of editing, but I feel like it’s something I wanna, I want hip hop culture to have as a whole. I just feel like this story needs to be told, you know, for the hip hop community to have.

Stephan Livera:

Yeah. And so tell us a little bit about your writing process. Like, how do you like kind of take the ideas and put them into, you know, put them down into like your format. Like, what’s your process there?

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

I like to I’m a very beat driven listener. Like even when I listen to music, I’ll hear an album a thousand times. And, then it’ll dawn on me it’s like, Oh my God. He said that, that’s what he was saying, because I’m always listening to the beat. The beat is, you know, that’s the foundation for me. The beat has to be in my dope and then I’ll get on board after that. But, you know, the beat is just like a wave, you know, it’s like, this is your wave you catch this wave. Then you, you know, you ride out, you gotta ride on that way. But I think in the times we are now, I think it’s important for artists to have work that conveys some type of message. And you don’t have to, but I think, you know if you can, if you have that ability to you should so you know, my music isn’t, doesn’t always revolve around social change, revolves around like parties partying and bullshittin too, but yeah, you know, just as an artist, like, you know, that’s our responsibility and for me, you know, like my boy Blake, who I’m working with now my group, so he just sends me beats, you know, and that’s our friendship.

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

It’s like, Hey, here’s a beat. All right. Yeah. I’ll write to it. And you know, and that’s, you know, it’s all prayed about like now it’s not my focus right now in the documentary and making that film. So I’m not like I’m not touring or anything, you know, I’ll do a show here and there, but, you know, it’s just it’s a great creative outlet for me to like, get some ideas out of my head and, you know, have fun with the beat.

Stephan Livera:

Yeah. And so on the production side, on producing, how did you get involved into that? Was that just kind of being around the space and then you were like, this is a new challenge for me. I want to take that on.

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

Yeah. I used to well, for documentaries, I used to make fan videos of using film footage. And I don’t know, I was like, if I’m going to listen to a song like me, if I hear a song and I like it I’ll play it a thousand times. So I was like, if I’m gonna listen to a song a thousand times, I might as well make a music video to it. So I just started, I started out on Microsoft movie maker and it was just such an organic progression it was like Microsoft movie maker. And then my, you know, you’re in LA, so you’re definitely on filmmakers. So, you know, your boy kicks you down his old, like tower with a ton of like with final cut pro and Adobe after effects, you know, and then you just, can, you just graduated into it. And then, you know, with the documentary, mobile is a filmmaker and he was like, look why don’t you, like, let’s do this for real. Let’s really make this documentary. And so he’s kicking me down like, you know, $3,000 worth of equipment whenever I need it. And it’s kind of a no brainer at that point where if someone’s going to give you $3,000 of equipment damnit I’m going to use it, you know, and that’s how it was super organic. It was super organic.

Stephan Livera:

That’s cool. So what’s the plan then with the documentary? Like when is that coming out and everything?

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

Man. So the documentary would probably come out the end of next year. I’m still adding it the tentative title, that’s hiphopphilosophy.com there’s an IG handle called hip hop philosophy movie at the moment that you can just see updates on it. But I gotta say this guy AC he’s one of a kind if you’re into hip hop, you gotta check out as Monday night, fresh show hiphopphilosophy.com. Just look that up or hip hop philosophy radio Monday nights from 6 to 10. I guarantee it’s going to be music. If you’re into hip hop, it’s going to be music you’ve never heard before. And if you heard the song, you never heard that version of the song before. So the dude’s a characters, never a good time to turn the camera off. He’s such a character.

Stephan Livera:

Awesome. So what era of music, like what era of hip hop is he focusing on?

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

So more of like the 90’s or like he focuses like late 80’s, early 90’s. And so late 80’s to 90 so early two thousands. Cause our album came out at the time as you know, it came out in 2004 and that’s when I met him around that time and his music kind of sits in that pocket of like, you know, very vibe-y very melodic instrument based. Yeah.

Stephan Livera:

And I presume you’re going to take Bitcoin for it as well. Right?

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

So that’s my plan. That’s my plan. It’s like, I’m always just like, I’m only selling it for Bitcoin, you know? So that’s, you can only get it for Bitcoin. Yeah. That’s the plan, you know?

Stephan Livera:

So are you looking to use a payment processor? Are you going to do like the whole BTCPay server? Like what’s your plan for that? Or you haven’t like, obviously it’s a while off, so, you know,

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

You never know what technology will be around, you know, it’s like we have keysend with the lightning network now, you know, like we didn’t have that before. So it’s like, Hey, I might just post an address. You know keysend me lightning. Can you send me some lightning? You know, Bitcoin.

Stephan Livera:

Yeah. Right. I suppose the, if they’re buying from you, they would probably rather have the invoice because then they can say, ah, proof of payment.

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, you know, it’s like, whatever technology is around at that moment, you know, I’ll hook up, you know, but that like I mean they and that’s the beauty with Bitcoin. It’s like, well, you know, I can set up my own payment option, you know, for this product I’m trying to sell. So yeah.

Stephan Livera:

That’s cool, man. I love that. You’re really trying to be like cutting edge, you know, use the latest thing. Like you’re on, cause a lot of people they’re not actually running a node.They haven’t like actually learned how to do this stuff. I think it’s really cool that you’ve you know, like you’ve gone to that level and you’re actually trying to, you know, like you said, be about it. Right. so with like in terms of like funding it, are you looking, is this like a pre-funding kind of model as well? Or is it just more like you’re going to make it and then just sell it?

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

No, I’m just going to make it I’ve already made it, so I just, this is, you know, I’m just putting my own free time towards it. It’s a passion project, you know, I’m a creative person, you know? I don’t, when I sit down and I’m editing, I’m just in the zone, you know, that’s my happy place, you know, I don’t need anything except the snacks around me and, you know, putting that puzzle together. It’s like, you know, those people who work almost huge, like thousand piece puzzles, like that’s what it is to me. I got this huge thousand piece puzzle and each night I sit down and I look at it and I start putting the pieces together and that’s my happy place. That’s my meditative space. You know, I don’t need, a financial reward for it. I just want really the hip hop community to have it. I feel like it needs, it’s part of the story. It’s part of the cannon, you know, and it needs to be there for future generations and current generations to see that’s all it needs to be. It doesn’t need to be more than that.

Stephan Livera:

Yeah, that’s really cool. I like that. And so then in terms of like your day job and stuff like that what’s your kind of main focus during the day.

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

So being, you know, when the financial crisis, right? So I’m working from home, but I work at a performance arts center which is cool. It’s kind of cool. Like we’re going through our problems with that space right now, but you know, it’s just, it’s in LA you have so many, everyone’s an artist in LA and everyone, if you haven’t made it as an artist yet, you know, you got your like side hustle job. So, you know at the performance arts theater, that’s my side hustle job. I do like ticketing and subscriptions for them. But it’s actually a really interesting place for me to be because I had no idea how powerful actual theater could be. Like, you know, I’ve seen one man shows that had actually, it was like, if you see a good piece of theater, you walk out of that theater, a different person.

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

I saw a show about Louis Armstrong. I was called Satchmo at the Waldorf and the play centers around his last performance. And he’s in the dressing room and he’s recollecting his career. And the guy who plays Louis Armstrong plays three characters, Louis Armstrong, Louis Armstrong’s manager, and miles Davis. And the dude never plays the trumpet once during this 90 minute piece of work. And you’re completely captivated by the whole thing. And it dawned on me and I was like, Oh my God, like, Oh, this is what theater is. So, you know, on that note too, it was like, I try to introduce people to theater. You got to see the show, you got to see this play. This is amazing. You know, and I didn’t as an artist, I didn’t, I neglected that aspect of artistry. And so it was important in me being there to just expand my mind. That’s still like what artists, what art is and how powerful it could actually be.

Stephan Livera:

Yeah. So it’s like, you’ve got all these different passions and really, it’s just kind of, you’re just sharing them with them and, you know, Bitcoin is one of them and art is another and theater is another and that’s, that’s all, that’s what it’s all about. So tell me in terms of bringing it back to Bitcoin what are you more excited about over the coming year or so, is there any particular development you’re looking at that you think that’d be really cool to see coming into Bitcoin?

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

Yeah, I’m really excited about the privacy coming in. I’m excited about the focus on privacy. I’m excited with the with the lightning network that they got this I forget what it’s called. Was it the LSATs? Is that what it’s called? They’re going to start using the HTML. I mean, I’m not, I’m like screw this all up, but they’re going to start using the the payment protocols in HTTP, you know that was neglected. I think the 402 protocol. I mean, I could be completely botching this. But that’s super interesting that, you know, that with the lighting protocol is trying to integrate itself into the webs that make, to even simplify payments even more, you know, so that’s interesting. And then the privacy, with Schnorr and Taproot, that’s going to be super interesting.

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

And, you know, I got this prediction, I could be wrong. We were almost the year, but I really see lightning going mainstream really soon. I really do. It’s just a couple of more key innovations that need to take place. And, you know, we’re going to be just zippity do da with this thing. I mean I use my node, I sent payments, I sent donations, you know, I sent donations to rootz and openoms, you know, and it’s bam, you know, it’s right there. It’s like low fees. And, you know, I’m using the backend software, like Ride The Lightning, you know, to make these payments, you know, lightning loop came out like how sick is that? You know? And it’s so fun. It’s this it’s that, you know just this funny geek out on this stuff. And at the same time, know that like, you’re part of a revolution. I mean, how fun is that? You know,

Stephan Livera:

That’s really cool. Yeah. I mean, RTL is a great dashboard to manage your lightning channels with I haven’t done, I’ve done like the the channel rebalancing tool on RTL as well, which is really, yeah,

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

Yeah.

Stephan Livera:

Yeah. It’s really cool. So yeah, I think it’s a there’s a whole community around it and it’s global, right? I mean, there’s a lot of guys in like Europe and stuff and America, some in Asia, like who are all working on lightning stuff and I’m trying to find ways to do something interesting. And I think when I chat with Rusty, who’s behind c-lightning and the lightning spec, he’s, the way he says it is something like, you know, he kind of makes this analogy back to his Linux days, right? So every year it was going to be, Oh this is the year of the Linux desktop. And like, it didn’t really happen that way. But then if you look at what happened, Linux did take over just not in the way we thought it would.

Stephan Livera:

And so it might be a similar thing with lightning that, you know, people are just going to keep plugging away, plugging away, building on it, and then eventually some thing somewhere kind of takes off and then people start using it. And who knows, it could be LSAT. It could be people doing like these kind of online paywalls as a way to kind of change the way advertising and online distribution works. There’s so many different ideas around that. Do you have any ideas on what you think it could be or what you’re more excited about in the lightning world?

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

It being used as a messaging application now, like, you know, that we didn’t, I don’t, I don’t know if that was in the original thoughts of it, but now we’re seeing it to sin as a way to send private messaging to people. So, you know what, you know, what could come out of that. That’s great. You know it’s just, yeah. We really don’t, you know, we have no idea something can completely out of this world step up, cause we we’re so in the beginning stages of it all, like I remember I had this modem to dial up to the internet and I had to, it was like PPP, you have to dial PPP and dial at these command lines. And then, you know, then your phone lines buzzing and crackling, and you’re finally online. And I kind of felt like we’re at that stage now with the technology where it’s just like, you know, you’re dialing in, you’re still using command lines, you know, do stuff if you don’t have to, but you know, you can back in technology. And it’s just really exciting to be here on the early phases of it. So, you know, something something’s gonna come along, who knows what, but, you know, there’s so many great minds working on it. It’s really fun to play with this stuff.

Stephan Livera:

Yeah. And I guess in terms of your experience, spreading it with your family and your friends, what have you found works best? Or doesn’t work that well in terms of when you’re talking about lightning with them or Bitcoin in general with them?

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

I mean, oddly enough money talks and it’s like, guys, look, I’m either going to be rich or I’m going to be poor, but it’s like, you might want to take this bet. You know, like you might want it. This seems like a pretty safe bet. You guys might want to take it and don’t come to me crying the blues, you know, when the numbers get really high and I warned you about this, you know, I’m trying to get you on before the train takes off and Hey, you know, there’s a chance it won’t, but there’s a chance of will. And so I’m betting on being the right side of this bet. And I want you guys to be on my side of this bet, you know that’s the bait, you know that’s the that’s the inaudible, but you know, it’s so much deeper to get people, you know, there’s so much more to it, but you know, just the, you know, the elevator ride pitch, that’s my elevator pitch, you know, Hey, don’t miss this train you know,

Stephan Livera:

It’s tapping into the FOMO, right? Yeah.

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

Like, don’t miss this train. If you’re going to go in just whatever you put in, don’t even look at it for three years. Just forget you even had it, you know, hold your own keys, hold your own keys, save your passwords, write it down, stash it. Don’t need just walk away. That’s it. You’re done. But just get in, you know, get yourself, get in, you know, is there my you know, of my family, I’m the most technically oriented one. So, you know, like, cause my sister’s like she just called me the other day and she said Oh, I found my password phrase and I got two of them. And you know, we’re back on the wallet, we’re entering the phrases and nothing comes up there’s no transactions, but both of the phrases are valid. And I’m just like, dude, I remember you writing it on a yellow sheet of paper, not a white sheet of paper. So, you know, like people being responsible for your money is a really new concept for a lot of people too. So, you know, it’s that educational process of getting them over the hump too. But yeah, that, that carrot, that thing on carrot, Hey, don’t miss this train.

Stephan Livera:

That’s awesome. So look, I guess have you got any parting thoughts for everyone in terms of you know, Bitcoin lightning, social movement, anything that you’d like to?

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

Yeah, just my three point plan is, you know, we, I mean, look, we also have been on television. And that’s just what we see. That’s just what was caught on camera. And we need to move forward as a society culturally and we, and we need to do what we can. So one of the nuclear option of boycotting for me is Bitcoin. So please learn about Bitcoin. And then you don’t have to like put everything you have in it, but start dollar cost averaging and like understand the technology, you know, find resources like this podcast to educate yourself on it, two volunteer in your community in whatever way you can, even if it’s just an hour, like it’s extremely powerful in fighting this problem. We have of systemic racism and inequality in the world, volunteer wherever you can. And three, if you are fortunate enough to live in a society where you can vote, don’t neglect that tool either. You know, it’s there, let’s use it. And those are my three, that’s my three point plan and moving forward, and those are macro ideas. If you know, micro ideas, if you’re a detail guy, please let me know, bring it to the table. What can I do? How can we refine this idea down? But those are the three ideas. That’s, you know, if I want anyone to get anything from this conversation, it’s those three points and moving forward.

Stephan Livera:

Fantastic. So Eric, where can listeners find you online?

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

Just go to my Twitter handle @iamTheCharacter and I have my links to my music there. I’ll Also be posting links to the hip hop documentary movie and the progress I’m making on it.

Stephan Livera:

Excellent. So I’ll put those links in the show notes and thank you very much for joining me, Eric.

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

Thank you for having me Stephan. Thanks reaching out, man. I didn’t know that interview was going to get posted. So I was like, for sure, they’re cutting that dude. Maybe I’m lost my mind. I was like, for sure, they’re coming up. But I was like, I got a platform I got about 30 seconds. Hey, let’s make this happen. So, you know, and I’m glad the community. I’m glad the community took it well too, and is appreciative of it. So thank you.

Stephan Livera:

Hey man, I think you did a great job, so I thank you. And so listeners check out the show, go to stephanlivera.com. That’s it from us. We’ll see you in the citadels.

Eric iAmTheCharacter:

Thank you guys. Peace.

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